Covering events from January - December 2004

There was continued concern about police ill-treatment, including of Roma, and conditions in detention. Protection for women in violent relationships remained inadequate. The use of cage beds to restrain people with mental disabilities was banned.

Police ill-treatment

On at least one occasion excessive use of force by police officers appeared to contribute to the death of a suspect who was reportedly resisting arrest.

  • In June, Svetoslav Martov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian national, was arrested for rowdy behaviour on a flight from Amsterdam to Budapest. Allegedly experiencing drug withdrawal symptoms, he was later being transported from a Budapest court to a detention centre when he reportedly assaulted the officers. The officers stopped the car and used a routinely practiced method of restraint: pushing the detainee to the ground, kneeling on the lower back, holding the neck and twisting an arm behind the back. Svetoslav Martov lost consciousness and died on the way to the hospital. An autopsy apparently established that his death had been caused by suffocation as a result of being held by the neck. The two officers involved in the incident were reported to have been suspended from duty. No independent inquiry was initiated into the safety of the method of restraint.

Violence against women

Data collected by the local non-governmental organization Women Together Against Violence Against Women showed that on average at least one woman per week was killed by her partner.

A parliamentary resolution in April 2003 required the government to draft a law on restraining orders for abusive partners by the end of March 2004 and to establish a network of shelters for battered women. However, the government failed to implement these and nine other requirements contained in the resolution.

Protection for women in violent relationships remained inadequate. The government failed to introduce legislation which would provide for restraining orders in line with best international practice.

There were no government-run shelters for women fleeing violence. Women with children requiring shelter had to go to "mother homes" – centres designed for poor mothers. Apart from only providing shelter to women with children, these centres had long waiting lists and were publicly listed, making them easy for the abuser to find. In October the minister responsible announced that rather than building a network of new shelters the ministry would be looking to extend the function of existing "mother homes".

Discrimination against Roma

In June the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published its third report on Hungary, welcoming some legislative and policy measures aimed at reducing racism, intolerance and discrimination. However, it remained concerned about continuing reports of racially motivated violence, including police ill-treatment. ECRI assessed that the Roma minority continued to be "severely disadvantaged in most areas of life". ECRI was also concerned about racist feelings expressed in the media and by some politicians and about negative attitudes towards migrants and asylum-seekers. It appealed for better implementation and extension of anti-racism laws and for a stronger response to incidents of police ill-treatment of minorities.

Conditions in detention

In June the government published the report of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), following the CPT's visit in May and June 2003. The CPT found that people held in detention pending trial were frequently remanded in police establishments, often for several months, rather than in remand prisons where conditions were better. Some detainees stated that they had been offered a transfer to a remand prison as an inducement to provide information. The CPT was also concerned that staff in the fourth District Police Station in Budapest openly carried truncheons and tear gas canisters in detention areas.

A study of pre-trial detention published by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee in November echoed the CPT's findings. The entry into force of a provision of the Penal Procedure Code mandating pre-trial detention in remand prisons was delayed.

In the prison system the CPT found serious overcrowding. Allegations of ill-treatment by staff were received from detainees at Unit III of the Budapest Remand Prison.

Rights of people with mental disabilities

In March the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, a regional non-governmental organization, published a report on the trial rights of people with mental disabilities sentenced to psychiatric detention by criminal courts. Annual court reviews determining the need for continued detention did not meet national and international standards. Court-appointed lawyers apparently failed to probe evidence presented to the court. They rarely met their clients before the reviews or explained to them the contents of psychiatric reports. In some cases they recommended that their client be further detained, contrary to the client's stated wishes. The court decision to continue detention appeared to rest solely on the opinion of the treating psychiatrist whose findings were not challenged. The average review lasted less than eight minutes.

In July the Minister for Health, Social and Family Affairs issued a decree banning the use of cage beds. However the decree fell short of international standards regarding the use of restraint. Individual hospitals were left to determine for how long restraints could be used. The decree included no provision for monitoring its implementation.

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